Gulch
by Elphaba'sGirl
Summary: "Dorothy Gale was losing her mind. Everyone knew it... The one person who didn't know this (or rather didn't believe it) was Ms. Almira Gulch."


**hey all!**

**heres a quick little writing update; LTLA is finished! And AEG is up and running! Check them out, I have a long plot lined up for AEG and I'm super excited.**

**this is a oneshot that came to me- as oneshots tend to do- around one a.m.**

**Wicked isn't mine!**

* * *

Dorothy Gale was losing her mind. Everyone knew it. Her Aunt Em and uncle Henry knew it, Jane Everest, the oldest lady in the town (possibly the world) knew it, Dorothy's classmates knew it, and name thought that Toto the dog knew it as well, for he would bark maniacally whenever Dorothy mentioned the place she called "Oz."

The one person who didn't know this (or rather didn't believe it) was Ms. Almira Gulch. Ms. Gulch had lived near the Gales for eighteen years (much longer than Dorothy had lived with her aunt and uncle) and while she and the young girl had had their differences regarding Toto, Almira didn't allow these conflicts to cloud her judgement. She judged what she saw, and what she saw was that Dorothy was correct; there was a place called Oz.

It was on a spring afternoon that Almira mounted the steps leading up to the Gales' farmhouse, and knocked briskly on the door.

It was Emily Gale who answered. Emily was short and plump, with rosy cheeks and laugh lines around her eyes. Her hair, streaked with grey, held peppered black streaks in it still.

"Good morning, Almira," said Emily.

"Good morning," Ms. Gulch said shortly. "I'm here to speak with Dorothy."

Emily nodded slowly, wisps of freshly combed hair falling into her eyes. "Of course. Dorothy?" She called to her niece, turned her head back toward the house, and the steady click, click of a child skipping down the stairs filled the air.

Dorothy appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, half her hair braided and the other half loose and wet (she'd just been caught in a rainstorm on her way back from school; poor Toto was upstairs in the tub, he'd gotten so muddy). As had become a new custom for her- and she'd acquired many since she'd first thought up Oz- she clicked the red ruby heels on her feet together three times before stilling.

"Yes, Auntie Em?" She said, and her eyes fell on Ms. Gulch. Dorothy had large green eyes, that got very big when she was surprised, and a sprinkling of freckles on her nose, which itched when she got nervous. As she was both surprised and nervous at the moment, her eyes were wide and her nose was itching and she had to try very hard not to make a face and be polite.

"Hello, Ms. Gulch," said the little girl, plastering a fake smile on her face. Needless to say she was intimidated by the woman, who was very tall, almost too-thin, and dressed from head to toe in black. The only spot of color (if it could be called color) was a large, antique locket set with a ruby that hung around her neck.

"Why don't you go and talk in the other room?" Emily said, and when Ms. Gulch nodded and Dorothy led her away, the older woman went back into the kitchen to finish up the pie she was making.

Dorothy showed Almira to the sitting room, and plopped down on a chair, her short legs swinging above the ground. "What did you want to see me about, Ms. Gulch?"

"Oz."

Dorothy looked her straight in the eye as she sunk into the chair across from her. "I didn't know were a therapist."

Almira looked confused (which wasn't an expression that became her sharp, angular features). "I'm not."

"Then why do you want to talk about Oz? Auntie Em says I shouldn't be encouraged in make-believe, though my guess is Uncle Henry disagrees."

"But Dorothy," Ms. Gulch said seriously, "I believe you."

"You _do_?" Dorothy gasped, and clasped her hands in her lap. Her eyes were very wide and her nose was very itchy. "Oh, Ms. Gulch, I can prove it, I have the ruby slippers. Glinda the a Good Witch gave them to me!"

Almira looked at the shoes strangely, slightly cross-eyed and a bit nauseous. "She did, did she?"

Dorothy nodded her head vigorously. "Yes, and a woman with green skin- who'd look rather like you, if it weren't for the green of course..."

"Green skin you say?" Almira repeated thoughtfully. "I think I knew her once. Yes, I believe I did. When she was very young."

Dorothy's eyes were practically falling out of their sockets, and had a picture been taken one might have wondered if she had a medical condition. "You've been to Oz?"

"_Been_ there? I _lived_ there, for a time."

Dorothy sighed. "Why would you _ever_ leave?"

The older woman got a distant look in her eyes and shrugged. "It gets hard after a while, and you wouldn't believe how easy it is to fake a death in a world with all sorts of strange ailments. A water allergy, for instance. But there are many other ways."

Dorothy considered this. "You know, Ms. Gulch, it's very hard to dislike the one person in the world who believes you when you're telling the truth. But what you said to Toto..."

Almira blushed. "Yes, well, I'm sorry about that. I was attacked by a dog when I was very young, and I've been afraid of them ever since. And to be fair, your little animal did bite me."

"I'm sorry about that too Ms Gulch. He has been acting up recently. I think he misses Oz too." The little green-eyed girl was suddenly curious. "You said they have dogs in Oz?"

"A sort, yes. None like your Toto though."

"Did you love Oz?"

"I did." She paused, fingering the locket around her neck with wistful longing. "It was different then, I had a different name."

"Did you?" Dorothy asked. "What was it?"

Ms. Gulch smiled, and the angles of her face smoothed over and became graceful and curved. She was really quite pretty, Dorothy thought, for an older woman.

Almira took a breath. "Melena Thropp," she said, the name soft and sweet on her tongue.

"Melena Thropp," Dorothy repeated. "I like it. It's beautiful. Would you mind if I called you Ms. Thropp?"

"Not at all."

**What did you think? Favorite lines?**


End file.
